Chris Doyle's advice on film-making
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I read this in an interview recently, and I totally agree. Its a sentiment shared by many artistic directors I think, last year Julie Dash (first African-American female director) visited my school and basically said the same thing.
Christopher Doyle is up there as one of the best cinematographers of all-time so I always keep this advice in mind! So many kids nowadays pick up cameras without anything meaningful to say, then they go to film school and make polished uninspired work and end up not making great films. I think a filmmaker first should discover what to say and then start making films and getting better at realizing that vision.
Christopher Doyle is up there as one of the best cinematographers of all-time so I always keep this advice in mind! So many kids nowadays pick up cameras without anything meaningful to say, then they go to film school and make polished uninspired work and end up not making great films. I think a filmmaker first should discover what to say and then start making films and getting better at realizing that vision.
That's true but I think a film that says something meaningful can be a great film but a film that has nothing meaningful to say about anything can never be a great film IMO. Those kinds of films are just fun to watch but they're generally not the best films that stay with the viewer forever.
You won't get any argument out of me.
There was an interesting netflix study around this behavior, regarding their preferential algorithm. The difference in recommendations for people that are on their DVD plan vs. people that use instant streaming.
With DVD people are more likely to prefer meaningful movies, because they won't watch them until some future date. Like saying you'll go running in the morning. But with the instant streaming, people are more likely to prefer mindless popcorn entertainment. Like sleeping in and then having bacon and pancakes for breakfast. screw waking up early to exercise!
Think of film as food. Sometimes you want to eat fine delicacies, other times you want football and chicken wings 
I believe this POV and approach is exactly why low-commitment youtube-esque shorts are better served as amusing low nutritive high calorie trifles rather than dead serious ten minute drama-fests.
Snatch and grab.
Not pomp and circumstance.
(Oh, screw that! ↑↑↑ Gimme an effing iced hunny bun and a Monster!)
Think of film as food. Sometimes you want to eat fine delicacies, other times you want football and chicken wings
Haha I think of film in the same way! I use this comparison all the time when I try to explain to my friends why I love a variety of films.
That's interesting! I think in general, people like to take it easy when they watch films and not watch challenging or meaningful films. I saw an interview with Roger Ebert where he basically says, most people don't want to watch great movies, they just want mediocre movies. He gives an example of this guy calling him and asking him about Ingmar Bergman's Cries And Whispers and Ebert tells him he thinks it's the best film of the year. Then the guy says "I don't think that's something we'd like to see." And then another example where Ebert tells someone that Breaking The Waves is the most meaningful cinematic experience he had in six months and then the guy says "oh good, what do you think about Jerry Maguire?"
I've had this same experience when I try to get family members and close friends to watch an Ozu film or a Wong Kar-Wai film or a Bergman film. Most get turned off immediately by subtitles or black & white, but then there's other artistic films (in color and in English) where they're just like "no, that doesn't sound interesting." So now, I try to find a middle ground. I successfully got my father (a huge action movie fan) into John Woo (his better Hong Kong films), I got my close friend into Kubrick and Woody Allen, and I got my mom into Old Hollywood films. I doubt we'll ever be watching Ozu or Bresson or Tarkovsky together anytime soon though! Me, I like any good film regardless of whether it's "low brow" or "high brow" and regardless of genre, country, or year it was made. The few biases I have against certain kinds films I'm trying to get rid of soon, because I just want to experience great cinema of all flavors.
I have late spring and tokyo story, but I haven't seen a single ozu yet
Kind of weak on my french films too.. haven't seen hiroshima mon amour, mouchette, closely watched trains..
slowly working my way there. Yet i will likely watch machete kills first lol
I feel like I'm the same in many ways! I have a lot left to watch simply because I can't access many of these artistic films through legal means and because it's just so much easier for me to say "let me watch this light entertainment film!" Still, I get excited when I think of how there's pretty much over a lifetime's worth of great cinema out there!
Haha you have to watch Ozu, he's my favorite filmmaker! I saw Late Spring first but Tokyo Story is his most famous film. I really don't know which you should watch first, I think either one is great. Ozu was also a master silent filmmaker with several masterpieces before the sound era. Although Tokyo Story is his most famous film it neither shows the full complexities of his talents (no single film can) nor does it feature Ozu's 'trademarks.' He often makes films about women having a marriage arranged and all of the conflicts within the family (Late Spring started this). Ozu was a master with color as well, so watching a color film of his is also a good experience.
Do you like any other classic Japanese filmmakers (Kurosawa, Mizoguchi, Naruse, Ichikawa, etc.)? I think a good bridge to Ozu's films is definitely Hirokazu Kore-eda, a contemporary filmmaker with quite a few masterpieces under his belt. His style is a mix of Naruse and Ozu, but he has his own distinctive voice as a filmmaker as well. I would recommend Maborosi (wait for a Criterion release on this one though) and Still Walking
I just don't watch as many French films because I don't have access to them
Do you like the New Wave? I had a hard time with Godard at first but Une femme est une femme made me re-evaluate him and now I'm going to try to view all his films.
My personal favorite French filmmaker is Agnes Varda, she perfectly balances entertainment and French intellectualism with stunning cinematography and unique structures. She mixes a documentarian look at life and her settings with traditional narrative storytelling. I would recommend her masterpiece Cleo from 5 to 7
Very cool.
I know this question wasn't addressed to me, but yes
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@foster
Have you seen the first Machete? Great movie.
I'm really weak on new wave. I haven't seen any godard but Band of Outsiders is in my queue. I enjoyed the 400 blows.
I've seen 11 of kurosawa's films and really enjoyed them. Stray dog was the only one that just didn't do it for me. Seven samurai, rashomon, ikiru, kagemusha and dreams were my favorites of the bunch.
I'm pretty strong on american cinema at this point but I still don't consider myself a film guru. Too many famous titles I still need under my belt.
fantastic that we do have a hundred years of cinema to watch and lean on. Makes me kind of jealous of people born 1000 years from now. Plus they'll live so much longer and healthier :/ bastards
@foster
Have you seen the first Machete? Great movie.
Yes and educational too. I learned some stuff about human intestines
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Ah, the New Wave isn't for anyone but I'm sure you'll love it!
Wow that's a good amount of Kurosawa! I would recommend you explore the other two Japanese masters, Kenji Mizoguchi and Yasujiro Ozu.
From the amount of films I've read that you watched you are definitely a film expert (at least American film expert)! There are always films out there to watch, even important ones so I don't think that you need to have watched them all to be a film expert. All you need is to learn more about film, read about film, and continue watching as much as you can!
Haha while I wish I was from a future generation as well, I'm kind of glad that I'm from this generation where we actually can just watch films at home. It's incredible to think that not so long ago you either had to wait for a film to come on TV or watch it in theaters. Even during the home video era it wasn't like every film was available at your local store or rental shop. Today we have the internet to help us find films from all over the world, it is really amazing!
Envy not the people of tomorrow; for all they have they know not that which has been lost...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_4jrMwvZ2A